Quick! Think!
by dark shadowed rose
Summary: Why you shouldn't name your child Alice. My take on the last scene and after, teen for swearing, and to be safe. Oneshot I think.


**Quick! Think!**

**Disclaimer no I don't own Alice just like I don't own anything... yet. My characters will come and take over Fan-fiction soon enough... for them any rate. I thought of this after I finished watching it for the first time, so here I am writing not half an hour after finishing it.**

**Start **

Alice suddenly realized what had just happened wouldn't and didn't make any sense to her mother, who was standing a touch to the left just two steps away absolutely shocked. She wasn't the most affectionate girlfriend and she had just jumped this guy who her mother had thought she'd never met... Except when he helped get her to hospital after being thrown through the mirror, giving her a concussion... "If I ever see that lab guy again I'm kicking his ass."

Hatter laughed, and then seemed to realize what she'd realized, he turned and after all their adventures she could see he was getting ready to lie his ass off... "David?" she asked her mind catching up to why she hadn't thought it'd be him.

He turned back to her thoughts and lies derailed. "Well I needed a first name, and I think David Hatter is quite a good name."

She nodded. "Yeah that's going to take some getting used to." Then she noticed his lack of hat. "You aren't wearing a hat."

He raised an eyebrow, a little smirk playing at his lips. "You hit your head and it isn't that usual for one of you Oysters to dismiss it, and with the head injury you could have forgotten it all, for all I knew. So excuse me for trying to seem normal."

Her mother snapped, completely and utterly confused. "What on earth Alice is going on!? First you woke up talking about your Father then you take your wall down, and now your talking to this man, this construction worker who said he'd just seen you run into that building!"

She saw Hatter had been playing it up a little, and it was a good way to ease her mother into things making it clear they were talking about the same things. "Yeah... Mother this is Hatter, and given by the fact he's here I think we're dating."

She felt him relax a little at her side and she realized he'd been uncertain about how she'd react to him. And well she'd known him and kissed him, he'd seen she wasn't the most trusting of girls, so her saying that made him feel just a little bit better. Her mother looked between the two of them horribly confused. "But... What about Jack?! You weren't cheating on him were you?"

Hatter scowled and she coughed, she hadn't really been worried about him. She knew Jack had had feelings for her, but that ship had sailed, a long time ago possibly even before she found out he was the prince. After all she'd ditched Charlie and Hatter because she was worried about either of them getting caught. She had something to trade and if they caught Hatter or Charlie then they'd have had something back, other then Jack or later her Father.

"Jack isn't in the equation mother, um..." she sighed and looked at Hatter he looked back at her almost infuriatingly blank, she sighed again. "Mom you are going to need to sit down for this."

Her mother waited but seeing both of them were serious she went to the couch and sat crossing her legs and knotting her fingers. She went to sit down across from her and Hatter joined her, she noted he was going to follow her lead - like she'd had to do when meeting Dodo. She winced, she hoped this went better. "Mom after Jack left me the ring I went out after him."

Her mother was nodding "I know and then you ended up in that old warehouse and hit you head and only David here saw you and so found you..."

She shook her head. "No. What happened was; I went out after Jack, and heard a struggle. I, of course went to investigate, I saw two suits and the White Rabbit kidnap him, Jack was unconscious and they carried him away stuffing him in a van where the two suits drove off with him. I was left with the White Rabbit."

Hatter interrupted: "They were that rough with the prince?"

She scowled and he raised his hands. "Sorry I didn't know this part."

She turned back only for her mother to add her two cents. "Yeah what's with these names?"

Alice sighed, this was something she hated about her mother she rarely let her just talk, her mother had to talk too. "I'll get to that. Anyway they wanted the ring and having seen them kidnap Jack I knew I need to bargain with them, but... the White Rabbit was handy with his cane, so I took the ring out of the box and slipped it on, closing the box I let him take it, and I followed him."

"So that's why you went running in there!"

She stared at her mother, who raised her hands, calmer now that she knew she would be told. "Moving on - I chased him and he moved like a rabbit, and I followed him until he went around a corner, then I couldn't stop and I ran through the mirror."

Speaking fast stalling any comments her mother could make Alice let the memories take her away. "I woke on some rocks and saw the Rabbit down the hall, he took off again and I followed him. I felt pretty sneaky but it was a trap: following him into head quarters the scarab caught me with the light and the mark proving I was an oyster appeared. Then I was carried away by the scarab, in my little crate. I realized quickly that the lock on the outside just needed to be turned, so pulling out a hair pin I picked it, only we were over the lake. The bottom gave way and I almost fell, but I caught the edge and saw the scarab carrying me, and the lake beneath my feet and the city behind me, and the stack of cards in front of me, and then I fell. Once I broke surface I swam back to the city and met a rat catcher, named Ratty"

Her mother's eyes were growing bigger and bigger and she knew it was only a matter of seconds before she interrupted again. "I convinced him he would be paid though he had no interest in our money, so he took me to the tea house. Hatter's tea house. Inside I found people bartering over little bottles with labels like Lust, Excitement, Passion, Desire, Hope, Serenity. Then the Ratty came back and lead me to the back, I met him." She pointed at Hatter and almost stuck her tongue out seeing the amusement in his eyes.

Her mother of course snapped, again. "No way you hit your head and they said you might be a bit strange but this!" she was up and pacing, and Alice once again knew she got her temper from her.

"And you!" her mother turned on Hatter seeing he was just slouching on the couch next to her, "You're going along with her!"

She found her eyes drifting back to him, she couldn't believe he'd come, sure in the beginning he said he'd slip over with her, but still. He'd done it. And he thought her mother was being funny.

"There simply wasn't enough time for this to have happened outside your head Alice!"

She suddenly heard her mother voice, and realized she missed a minute or two of the rant, she didn't look away from Hatter, he was her proof. "Maybe not here mother but I wasn't here, I was in

Wonderland."

She heard her mother stop pacing and then heard her feet click over to her, she forced herself to look up. Her mother was worried she could see it, tears of stress added a shine to her mother's eyes. She smiled up at her, "Mother if it didn't happen where is Jack?"

"I'm sure you used my cell to try to call him while I was in the hospital, but it said out of service didn't it? I can explain that, and I can explain why this guy is sitting on the couch next to me, when you know even if I'd met him before, even if I'd been dating him behind Jack's back you would have known."

Her mother shook her head proving the Hatter's first point about people didn't know how to find them so ignored their existence. "Mom Dad died in my arms, he'd been there for however long it was over there working for the queen, making the awful teas. They called him the Carpenter, he had forgotten just like all the other poor people that had been kidnapped. He took a gun shot for me, or he at least did his best to make sure the shot didn't hit me."

Her mother was crying but still shaking her head in denial, frustrated she turned to the Hatter and hoped he'd been listening, "Hatter what did dad say I was wearing the day my cat died?"

He blinked surprised at being brought in to this, "Um, yellow dress and black shoes that pinched your toes, he said someone came over and said your cat had been hit by a car."

Her mother spoke, voice choked. "You could have told him that!"

"When Mom? When! I didn't even remember that stupid yellow dress I just remembered crying and him holding me for hours. Mom I was in Wonderland for four... no five days. I found dad, met a Queen of Hearts, I found out Jack really is blond, and he was the prince of Hearts, now he's king. He was here for me, to get me over to the other side to wake dad up, he was in the position to over throw the queen. I went and did something like what the first Alice did."

Her mother looked between the two of them before falling into the chair, Alice waited, sure her mother had more to say, but she seemed to have burned herself out for the moment. Silence built until her mother waved her hand, then she started again. "I met the Hatter and he agreed to take me to the Dodo, who was part of the underground resistance."

He poked her arm. "I think your leaving some stuff out."

She grinned a touch evilly. "You mean the part where you said something like 'Do I need a reason to help a very pretty girl in a very wet dress?'" He flushed but she could see he was taking the hint to shut up and let her gloss over some of his less pleasant moments.

"Mom I haven't told you about the city... I think the lowest floor I was ever on was at least forty stories above ground and the sidewalks ran around the edges of the buildings with skyways between, oh and there was no side rails, and some places you were but a foot away from the edge... oh and some times you had to climb down latter's on the sides of buildings. Speaking of which I think I'm cured, no long scared of heights, I did get on a flamingo by myself."

Hatter blinked at her. "Really?"

She blinked back. "You didn't think about how I got back did you? The mirror was back in the city."

Hatter blinked again, before smiling a slightly silly smile. "You came back for me!"

She felt her lips twitch, but then remembered how sure she'd been sure he and Jack were dead, "No I thought you were dead."

"Oh," he pouted.

She went on; "The underlings I met were very jumpy, afraid the queen was going to swoop in and kill them all, but when we got to the Dodo things went sideways. When he saw the ring, which was still the only thing I had to bargain with, he wanted and was willing to kill for it. He shot poor Hatter over here who was only okay because he was wearing body-armer, not that I knew that - I knocked him down throwing the gun away and then ran. Hatter here got up and covered my back and together we got out of there. We headed back to his tea shop but suits were already there, so we booked it. Over the lake and in to the woods we ran from... who ever was leading the Suits. And running from a Jabberwock we fell into a pit dug by Charlie, he is a White Knight, the last one left, and he probably is like a hundred. But he hid us for the night, fed us dinner, and told us what happened to the old Red King. I realized that night I couldn't go make a deal with the queen if I had the ring on me or if I took you," she nodded to Hatter, "Or Charlie so I left."

She grinned, "Got a ways away before I fell asleep, then I woke at day break and set off. Then I met up with the Suits and they took me the rest the way. I got to the Casino and it was awful mom, the people they didn't know what was going on, half a sleep, drained of emotions. Then of course the queen, a bigger bitch I have never met. She was very angry to say the least about my having hidden the ring. However she let me make my demands, and then threw them in face, calling Jack in she told me of the fact she'd engaged him to the Duchess, and forced to play along he... lets just go with had to say some unpleasant things."

She noted Hatter's right hand clench, he probably was remembering how loyal she'd been on the beach, never mind both of them were right, Jack loved her and had been using her. Touching his hand she went on. "Then under his mother's watchful eye he slipped me Dad's watch, and whispered in my ear under the guise of kissing my head, 'he's here.' Then the queen gave me to the twins, I'm pretty sure I'm now more scared of wood floors then heights, but Hatter and Charlie... I still have no clue how you found me, much less got me out."

Hatter smirked, eyes still dark wether the thoughts of Jack or the Twins, if he knew the twins, she didn't know. "Yeah I still don't know how we found you either, Charlie did that, he hummed his weird little chant, and then said sane as day said 'Down here. Take the second left at the stairs that lead up to the third floor, then after the double doors take the third hallway on the right, over the fitness center to Reception B, and ask Sheila.' And then after I ask added or 'maybe it's Shakena.' The weirdest part was the girl on duty said the girl before her was named just that. The she told us two floors up and then the last left. Then the rest you were there for."

"Really?"

He nodded. "Yeah made me think for a moment you might have been on to something when you picked him up."

She grinned. "Yeah. But any way we got away, and then they caught up to us and shot us out of the sky, and we were back in lake just a little from where I started."

Her eyes slid to Hatter, how to go into what happened without making Hatter or Jack seem like a bad guy... "And so Hatter convinced me not to go charging back there to once again make demands, so he went back got a message to the Caterpillar, leader or mostly head of the Resistance. So me and Charlie hung out for a while, and then Hatter got back. That's when we found out Jack was part of the resistance. Even as the Prince, but he'd seen the wrong in what his mother was doing, and he'd made his choices. So I left with him and I think Charlie and Hatter followed us. And then me, Jack and Dad who had barely started to remember me, were captured. Hatter tried to free us and joined us, I was sentenced to go back, I left knowing I couldn't help anyone, Jack sentenced to death, and Hatter was just dragged off I thought they'd killed him right away."

He pouted, "Hey! I was a valuable member of the rebellion, I knew stuff, of course they were going to question me!"

She just let a little smirk grow, just to let him see how important he'd seemed to Caterpillar and Jack and Dodo, he caught on judging by the little twitch by his left eye. But she went on, "I was taken back to the city, and taken to the mirror room, where I watched as they brought back new Oysters, it was funny, they should have had a higher number of guards, but it was the Ten of Clubs, and two suits and a couple of scientists. And I admit I hadn't thought seriously about fighting, I didn't know what I could do, Dad hadn't listen to me, the Caterpillar was gone, Hatter was gone, Charlie was gone... But when they brought the children in... I couldn't give up, even if I wasn't the Alice of old I could try."

She was careful not to look at Hatter, she knew he knew she liked him but she wasn't sure she wanted him to know how close to rolling over and quitting she had been. Feeling his eyes on her she met her mother's gaze, the look was a fascinated, horrified, confused mix of uncertain and worry. "Then after all the running I had been doing it was almost easy, I went to the roof, found a Flamingo, hopped on and was about to lose my nerve when they started shooting. So I took off, manged to get away from the one not carrying the ring and make him think I'd crashed, then I made it to the Casino, and mostly landed."

Alice took a deep breath, her Dad was going to come up again soon. "And so I started looking for Dad or trying to wake any Oysters up, then I found out what Charlie had been doing; Mom he set up over a thousand skeletons to make an army, and he made it look like they were under attack, so the suits were too busy to notice me till the Clubs caught up. Everyone else was facing the army. So running around mostly clueless I ducked into a room where some of the Oysters were set up to be drained, I barricaded one of the doors, and was setting myself up to take out the two guards in the room when Hatter caught up. We took them out, and I remembered some of the stuff others had told me about the emotions, so with help from the Hatter I woke everyone in there up. They woke and were confused, scared, and it didn't mix well with everything else. Of course then the Clubs broke through and then Dad came in."

She swallowed, this part was going to be hard. "I held a gun on dad, because I didn't believe it was him not the Carpenter. He had to talk me down, and then was when he talked about the day Dinah died."

Feeling tears well, she swallowed harder, Hatter took her hand this time. "Dad had just given me a hug when the other head scientist came in and shot Dad, Hatter killed him before he shot me, but Dad was dying. He called me jellybean one last time, and then he died."

She stopped unable to see past the tears, her mother was a blur of color and she used her other hand to swipe at her eyes, sniffing. She took a deep breath, struggling to calm herself, even as much as she was scared mom would blame her it was a relief to tell her, she had wanted to so badly but she was afraid it had all been a dream. "Hatter is the only reason I got out, the fear, confusion, panic mixed with the others caused an explosion, feeling the shaking the operators called it and let all the Oysters go, everyone or something close to everyone got out. Outside the queen found me and Hatter, and tried to sic the suits on us, placing the blame for the explosion where it belonged. The Oysters protected us, and I added my two cents, I asked if they really wanted to keep fighting for her. I figured you know if the suits would turn on her now was the best time, after all she didn't have teas on hand to bribe them with."

She grinned through her tears remembering the queen's face as Hatter walked up to her knife in hand, "It worked. She gave up and handed us the ring. Jack who had also got out with the duchess started putting things to rights by sending us, the Oysters back. The lab helper shoved me through head first which is at least some of how I hit my head. The asshole."

She then turned to the Hatter. "And then I have no clue how he's here."

He grinned rather charmingly, "Yes well I had been settling into the new life when Caterpillar and Jack with Charlie showed up. I really I am the Harbinger after all. I was or at least am part of the reason things worked out the way it did. Jack was getting texts from an unknown person warning him, that was why he panicked and slipped you the ring, I told him the White Rabbit was waiting. I was sent back four weeks ago, and really am a construction worker, part time, and I am living in Jack's old apartment now. So yeah."

They both looked at her mother, her mother looked between the two of them, "Let me get this straight, he's the Hatter."

They both nodded.

"You're Alice."

She nodded wondering where her mother was going with this, her mother laughed and then fainted, slumping back in the chair. She stared and then looked to Hatter, he met her gaze and after a moment of silence said, "That went well."

**Finish**

**So having edited it I am surprised by how much I still like this story.**


End file.
